


Ruby Drips

by BergaraHoe (flannelfeelings)



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Action, Angst, Anxiety, Anxious Ryan, BAMF Shane, Blood, Death, Drama, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Happy Ending, Heroic Shane, Hurt/Comfort, IDEK what this is sorry yall, M/M, Mentions of Murder, Not sure really how to tag for this, Protective Shane, Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej - Freeform, Shane saves the day and we love that fo rhim, Some slightly graphic imagery but nothing that will scar you, Traumatic Experiences, Violence, but no one important, buzzfeed unsolved - Freeform, dont fuck with his boyfriend, lighthearted though, mature themes, shyan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 17:14:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19873174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelfeelings/pseuds/BergaraHoe
Summary: Ryan is always afraid. Afraid of ghosts, of demons, of giant moths, even sometimes of his boyfriend's farts.However, on one particular shoot, he learns the true meaning of fear.(The one where Shane saves Ryan from death)





	Ruby Drips

People often accused Ryan of being new-agey. He believed in karma, he believed in energy, he believed in what Shane often referred to as “spooky little spectors.” His mother had raised him to respect what he didn’t understand, and to always bow down to a higher power. She taught him to keep his distance from negative energies, and not to meddle with mysterious forces.

Ghost-hunting didn’t exactly align with these values.

Despite the fact that Linda Bergara, and Ryan’s entire family constantly told him how proud they were of his successes; Ryan knew they were worried about the investigations. Before each shoot, he’d get a loving text from each family member. He knew it was just a comforting gesture on their part; but a small voice in his head told him that it was because they thought he was going to die.

And _that_ didn’t exactly calm his already frayed nerves.

Shane, on the other hand, didn’t have the same concerns. The man had brazenly taunted a multitude of entities, insisting he wanted them to try their very best to murder him. This both terrified and entertained Ryan. While he didn’t want to see his boyfriend hurt, he would like for him to be humbled. Maybe just a gentle nudge from a ghost. Nothing too serious. Though, that would likely be the end of the Supernatural portion of their show.

“This place is _nasty_ with a capital N,” Shane remarked as they made their way up the damaged brick pathway leading up to the dilapidated building before them. It was an ancient-looking butcher shop from the 1800s where the owner had decided to cut up something a little more rare than beef.

“What do you expect?” Ryan demanded, watching Devon unlock the rickety front door, “this is where the murder-butcher killed dozens of people. It’s not gonna look like the fuckin’ Hilton.”

Shane made a show of coughing dramatically at the dust when they entered, plugging his nose and wrinkling it up like he’d just sucked on a lemon, “Smells like leftovers.”

Ryan snorted out a wheezing chuckle in response to his boyfriend’s idiocy, “Breathe through your mouth, it’s certainly big enough.”

The taller of the duo playfully nudged Ryan’s shoulder as they made their way to the lobby of the shop. The shop’s foundation was still standing, though the brick was positively crumbling around them. The chilly Philadelphia air was seeping in through several sloppily boarded up windows and holes in the sealant of the walls. Ryan had already heard at least two families of rats scurrying around behind them, and ghosts were currently second on his list of worries. _First_ , was vomiting from the stench. It reeked like rotting meat and old furniture. He could pinpoint the source of the latter scent; given that there were old tables and chairs scattered around the lobby, however the meat smell was a concern.

“You know, people say they smell rotting meat before the butcher ghost shows up.” Ryan said, disgusted.

Shane scoffed, “Hate to break it to you Ghost Boy, but it’s probably just a dead raccoon in the walls. _Or_ maybe...some human body parts they never found.”

Ryan ignored that gruesome suggestion and turned to Mark, “We ready to film the intro? I’d like to head back into the freezer part...hopefully we can escape this rank ass smell.”

They managed to get through the intro with relatively little snafus, though Mark and TJ already looked annoyed with Shane and Ryan’s constant bickering. As much as Ryan loved Shane, and knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with the man, his relentless skepticism was nothing short of infuriating.

“So, this guy killed over 25 people here in 1875, and you don’t think _any_ of that energy might linger here?” Ryan demanded, “that’s a lot of blood and gore.”

Shane shrugged, “I’m sure he killed a lot more cows than he did people. Why don’t I hear any hushed moos?”

Ryan couldn’t help the trickle of chuckles that escaped his throat, “I’m not going to definitely say there’s no ghostly bovines...but I just don’t think so.”

“You can definitely say it Ryan, there’s no ghosts of any kind.”

The shorter, dark-skinned man shook his head, turning back to the camera, “I think that’s all there is to say about that.”

They cut on the intro and began strapping on their gear to start the actual investigation. Their chest rigs were the prime piece, given the fact that they’d both been advised by the property manager to wear surgical masks across their noses and mouths. This was due to the building’s lack of upkeep and asbestos problem. It didn’t run any tours or get too many visitors, and they were the first paranormal crew to ever shoot here.

They started the shoot in the lobby, planning to do their individual investigations in the freezer, which was where all the murders had taken place. The spirit box gave absolutely nothing of use, and the EVP recorder so far was zero for zero on caught voices. They ran these tests for about an hour and a half, before giving up.

Despite not catching any evidence, Ryan was starting to feel nervous. The hairs on his arms were standing up (under his two layers of jackets) and his breath was cold. An icy sweat had broken out across his face; the longer they stayed here, the more anxious he got.

As the crew headed for the freezer, Shane turned to them excitedly, “What if everyone left except for me and Ryan?”

Ryan’s eyes widened, “Shane-”

“C’mon, this place is tiny. The ghosts are probably spooked by so much crowding.”

Mark and TJ glanced at each other, then shrugged. Devon sighed, “If Ryan’s okay with it, we can step outside and wait in the car. But if this is just an excuse for you two to fuck in a historical location, Shane, I swear to _God_ -”

“Don’t be gross!” Shane insisted, offended, “I’d never take advantage of sweet Ryan here in a germ-filled murder shop. This is purely in the interest of getting evidence.”

Mark rolled his eyes, “And terrifying Ryan for some good shots?”

Shane cocked an eyebrow up at Ryan, winking once, “I can’t predict the future.”

“You guys can go,” Ryan sighed, “he’s just gonna keep being too much until you leave.”

“I’ll _always_ be too much, baby.” Shane hit back, without missing a beat.

“Ain’t that the truth.” TJ agreed, and turned for the door. Devon and Mark followed suit, and Ryan and Shane watched them until they disappeared out the front exit.

“Well,” Ryan gestured to the freezer door, “skeptics first.”

Shane chuckled, grabbing the door handle and wrenching it open. It was a heavy, metal weight that Ryan could tell was difficult to jimmy. The inside was no colder than the rest of the shop though, given there was no electricity to cool it. He couldn’t see inside fully, as Shane slipped in and closed the door before he could get a good look.

“Three minutes!” Ryan called to him. Shane responded, but the door was so thick his words were muffled and garbled. It worried Ryan that he couldn’t hear Shane, but he told himself to calm down. Everything was going to be fine.

Ryan leaned against the wall beside the door, but quickly stood up with disdain as he noticed how dirty it was. He could vaguely hear Shane hassling the ghosts to show themselves, but the specifics were indistinguishable. This went on for about another minute, before Ryan heard something that made his blood turn cold.

From inside the freezer, there was a loud _crash!_ And Shane cried out. Ryan froze, eyes widening.

“Shane?!” he called out worriedly.

Then, he heard Shane scream.

Moving in an instant, Ryan’s hands curled around the freezer door handle, and he yanked it back with every ounce of strength in his body. It flew open, and he stepped into the freezer.

The _smell_ hit him hardest at first. If the lobby had been bad, this room was like standing in a dumpster full of rotting carcasses. Even through his mask, Ryan felt the infiltrating stench deflower his nostrils and threaten to make him puke. But that was the least of his worries, now.

His eyes settled on Shane, who was now on his ass on the floor, cradling his head in his hands. And above him...a large, broad-shouldered figure, holding a giant silver knife.

_The butcher_.

Frantically, Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out the small vial of holy water he kept there. The figure was moving toward him now, barreling across the freezer in his direction, knife wielded. Ryan splashed the holy water across the four feet between them, and it landed in the figure’s face.

He stopped for a moment, wiping at his face, then looked back up at Ryan. That was when Ryan noticed he was pale white, somewhat overweight. He wore a red-stained plain t-shirt underneath a similarly stained apron. His eyes had dark purple circles around them, and his teeth were yellowed and rotten. He was balding, black greasy wisps of hair combed over his skull.

And he was opaque.

“Y-you’re not a ghost.” Ryan gasped in realization that he was standing in front of a very real man, with a very real butchering knife.

The man grunted, and surged forward. Thinking quickly, Ryan ducked sideways. Luckily Ryan’s height and fit body lent him to be more agile than this fat, middle-aged man. But, the other man was much larger than he, possibly even as tall as Shane.

“What are you doing?” Ryan demanded, putting more distance between him and the man, “what the fuck is going on?”

The man let out a small, unstable laugh, “they don’t usually come to me.” he murmured, excitement evident in his dark eyes, “I usually have to go get them. Bring them here. But not you. You came to me.”

The voice was familiar...Ryan realized after a moment. He recognized the voice, because it was the same one he’d heard on the phone. The property manager.

“So what?” Ryan scoffed, glancing over at Shane who still hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor. He looked back to the man, trying to bide some time, “you’re just a copycat? You bought this place to carry out the same sick murders as the butcher did?”

“You catch on quick.” he responded, there was an almost giddy tone to his voice, “when you called and said you wanted to come, late at night? Well, this is really on you, isn’t it?”

Before Ryan could respond, the man was moving back toward him again. There was nowhere left to run. He grabbed Ryan around the neck, yanking him in close and tucking Ryan’s head under his _(disgusting_ ) sweat-soaked armpit. Ryan was head-locked in his fleshy arm.

He dropped the large butcher knife, rummaging around in his apron pocket. After a moment, he removed a small blade, about 6 inches long. Ryan’s eyes widened as the man brandished the small piece of steel, excitedly.

“I’ve never had someone like you,” he told Ryan, “they’re usually white guys, like me, and him.” he gestured across the room to Shane, who was still unmoving, “ _your_ skin will make something _lovely_.”

Ryan couldn’t even begin to process what that meant, but something in his memory resurfaced an article about how the butcher would skin his victims and make horrific art projects out of the skin. Shane had even made a joke about how Ryan would make a nice leather purse.

Ryan resisted the urge to throw up again.

He fought against the man’s grip, but he was impossibly strong, and had him held tight against his side. The man reached over to Ryan’s face and pulled his mask off. Within a moment, he felt the blade tip press into his cheek, and he grunted in pain as the man dragged it down slowly, blood spilling out down his face and neck. It had to be a relatively thin cut, but the blood pooled at his shirt collar, staining it dark burgundy.

_They were right_ , Ryan thought in agony, _I’m going to die._

_I love you Mom. I love you Shane. I love you Jake, and Dad._

There were too many people he hadn’t said goodbye to.

Suddenly, a noise got both of their attentions. Shane had gotten up from his place on the floor, and grabbed the large meat cleaver that the man dropped in favor of the smaller knife. Ryan took the opportunity of the man’s surprise to grab his blade-wielding hand and wrench the weapon from him. It clattered to the floor.

“Let him the _fuck_ go,” Shane snarled, and Ryan noticed a large welt on his forehead. The man must’ve hit him to subdue him before Ryan came in. His glasses were also nowhere to be seen.

“Hold on,” the man said calculatingly, and Ryan felt his grip tighten so much that his breathing became strained, “let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about you psycho, I’m gonna cut your fucking head off if you don’t let him go!”

_Please God...let Shane get out._

“No!” the man growled.

“Shane please go!” Ryan managed to rasp out, “he wants me more, just _go_!”

Ryan knew Shane wouldn’t be able to kill someone. Making jokes about it, and pretending not to be afraid of anything, was different than ending a human life. There was only one way out of this. Ryan had to die.

“Are you insane?!” Shane demanded, “ _I_ have the knife! I’m gonna tell you one more fucking time, let him go, or I’m gonna turn you into the fucking headless horseman!”

Instead of releasing Ryan, the man took a chance. He lurched forward to try and grab the knife from Shane’s hand. Seemingly on impulse, Shane swung.

There was a sickening _squelch_ noise as the knife connected with the mans large neck. He released his grip on Ryan, who gasped and pulled away, as the man’s blood splattered in his hair. The impact didn’t fully take the man’s head off, but the knife did get stuck, buried halfway through his throat as blood and exposed veins squirted red liquid out across his body.

Ryan didn’t even realize he was screaming until Shane grabbed his face and shouted over him, “C’mon Ryan! Move!”

Then, he was being ushered out of the freezer. Through the lobby and out to the dark night. As soon as they burst through the front door, Devon, Mark and TJ all flooded out of the SUV, sprinting over to meet them.

“What the fuck?!” TJ shouted as they approached.

“Ryan your face!” Devon took him from Shane’s arms and brought him over to the van, “Jesus Christ Ryan!”

Ryan couldn’t even feel the pain in his cheek anymore, he felt numb. He could somewhat hear Shane explaining frantically what had happened and saying that they needed to call the police. They had to wait there until the police and paramedics showed up. Ryan was practically catatonic by the time the sound of sirens came blaring up to them. The paramedics took him into the back of the ambulance and began fawning over his injured cheek. He was barely cognizant of what was happening.

“He’s in shock,” an unfamiliar voice said to Devon.

“Yep, that's the guy.” another, more stern voice said to someone else across the lot, “we found the bodies of Jennie Hughes and Derek Parker in a back compartment of the freezer, just rotting there, half-skinned. You wouldn’t believe the smell. He’s uh...he’s dead though.”

Another voice, “You did great work son. This guy’s killed a lot of people.”

“I wasn’t trying to.” That was Shane, “I just...he was going to kill us too.”

“Don’t worry,” the first voice, “you’re okay kid, we know it was self defense. We even have the footage from yours and your friend’s camera.”

“He’s my boyfriend.” Shane replied quietly, and Ryan wondered why he even felt the need to clarify at a time like this.

Shortly after, while the medics were examining Shane’s head injury, Ryan was sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV with the door ajar. A uniformed team brought out a body bag on a gurney.

Finally, Ryan keeled over and vomited on the pavement.

Hands were on his back, rubbing soothing circles, “Ry? Hey, talk to me baby?”

Ryan wiped a hand sloppily over his mouth, grimacing at the pain in his bandaged cheek. He looked up and met Shane’s eyes. He had found his glasses, though one of the lenses was cracked. Someone must’ve stepped on them.

“He’s-he-we-”

“I know.” Shane whispered, scooching Ryan over and pulling him in tight. He rested Ryan’s head against his chest, but kept his chin lifted. Ryan knew it was because he had the man’s blood in his hair still, which only made him want to vomit again.

“I’m sorry,” Shane murmured.

“You saved me.” Ryan was ashamed of how small his voice sounded, “don’t be sorry for saving my life.”

“I’m _not_ sorry for that. I’d do it again and again to keep you safe. I’m sorry that this happened.”

“It’s like he said,” Ryan replied quietly, “we came here. We know this shit is dangerous but we keep messing with it.”

“Ryan,” Shane grabbed his shoulders and turned him so they were face- to-face, “we are not doing anything wrong. This wasn’t a ghost, or a demon. This was a crazy, evil man. A _man_. A _person_. Just a human being. Don’t act like this is karma or something for our meddling, okay? You know that there are bad people out there no matter what.”

Ryan shook his head, unable to meet Shane’s gaze, “I can’t shake the feeling that this is a sign that we should stop. Stop everything.”

Shane leaned in closer and thumped his forehead against Ryan’s, “We can stop if you want. If you truly don’t want to do this anymore. But...we _can’t_ stop because of fear. That guy in there…” Shane sighed, his grip on Ryan’s arms tightening marginally, “he was a very bad man. The police told me he’s killed a lot of people, and they’ve been looking for him for months. I know this is a fucked up way to think about it, but if we hadn’t come here tonight, who knows how many more people would have died? Don’t you believe that things happen for a reason?”

“But why us?” Ryan whined, “why did _we_ have to k-kill-” he couldn’t get the words out. Every time he thought about what had just happened, he got a lump in his throat the size of a golf ball.

“I don’t know,” Shane said quietly, “and trust me, I won’t be sleeping for the next ten years. But I know that when shit like this happens, you don’t run away. You pick your damn self up, brush the blood out of your hair, and make the world your bitch. This happened, it was fucked up, now we figure out how to move on.”

Ryan was surprised by the small laugh that came out of him, as he shakily ran a hand over the tips of his hair: matted with blood. He couldn’t believe he was even able to laugh after this, but that was a testament to Shane’s insane ability to comfort him, even in the worst situations.

“You’re unflappable, Madej.” Ryan muttered.

“Trust me Ghost Boy, I’m more flapped than I’ve ever been.”

Ryan shuddered, glancing up at the building as the police canvassed it, “I don’t think ghosts are very scary anymore.”

Shane chuckled once, “We’ll see if you say that on our next shoot. C’mon Ry, let’s get outta here. There’s a warm, safe hotel bed waiting for us.”

They gathered their things and were permitted to leave by the officials, after their cameras were confiscated. The crew all piled into the SUV, Shane and Ryan in the third row alone.

Ryan leaned into Shane, nestling his body into the curve of his chest. Shane held him tight, running his thumb soothingly over Ryan’s skin as they drove. It was going to be a while before either of them felt normal again, that was for sure. But as he looked back and watched the butcher shop fade into the distance, Ryan took solace in one small thing.

The Ghoul Boys had triumphed again.


End file.
